Mayoral candidate John Catsimatidis raised the prospect of a wild mayoral election in November, warning that if Adolfo Carrion runs on the Independence Party line he could tilt the outcome to the Republican candidate.
“Adolfo Carrion could be the Ross Perot of 2013,” declared Catsimatidis at a press conference outside City Hall, where he called on the city to provide more property tax relief to homeowners devastated by Hurricane Sandy.
Perot drew 18.9 percent of the vote in his 1992 presidential run, running as a third-party independent. Some analysts believe many of his votes would otherwise have gone to then-President George H. W. Bush, who ended up losing the three-way election to Bill Clinton. Other analysts say Perot pulled equally from Bush and Clinton.
Carrion would presumably hurt the Democratic nominee for mayor if he drew large numbers of Hispanic votes in a three-way contest since those wouldn’t be likely to go to the Republican.
The Independence Party is scheduled to endorse Carrion tonight at a meeting in Lower Manhattan.
Carrion, a former Democrat, also wants to run on the Republican line. But he hasn’t been able to secure permission from the party’s leaders to enter a GOP primary that will probably include Catsimatidis, former MTA chairman Joe Lhota, media executive Tom Allon and Doe Fund founder George McDonald.